‘David Bowie Is’ Museum Exhibition To Become Augmented Reality App For iOS And Android
David Bowie Is, a museum exhibition in Brooklyn that ran over the summer to honor the late glam-rock star, is set to be released as an iOS and Android augmented reality mobile app in the new year. Users will be able to view the exhibit from their phones in 360-degree detail — as if they were actually in the museum, Rolling Stone reports.
The augmented reality exhibit will hit app stores on January 8, 2019, which would have been Bowie’s 72nd birthday. Through the app, fans can explore a collection of Bowie’s costumes, videos, and handwritten lyrics — all of which were included in the original exhibit. Additionally, there will be several items exclusive to the app.
“[The app] mirrors the physical exhibition through a sequence of audio-visual spaces through which the works and artifacts of Bowie’s life can be explored…all in 360-degree detail, enhanced by an immersive audio experience featuring Bowie’s music and narration, best experienced with headphones,” a press release stated, which Uncut shared.
The David Bowie Is app is being designed by Planeta, based in New York, in collaboration with the David Bowie Archive and Sony Music Entertainment. Planeta already plans to further develop the app for an even better virtual reality experience, although there is no date set for the release of an updated version.
As we reported previously, the David Bowie is exhibition has been digitally immortalised for the David Bowie is Augmented Reality mobile app, available in iOS and Android on 8th January 2019: https://t.co/ZJeKdrgUE9 Go here for the full press release: https://t.co/U4YJ7c4aUw pic.twitter.com/Il9w2YhCXd
— David Bowie Official (@DavidBowieReal) November 20, 2018
The original David Bowie Is museum exhibit debuted in London in 2013 at the V&A Museum. For the following five years, the exhibit traveled across the world. Finally, the exhibit ended up at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City — from March 2 to July 15, 2018.
David Bowie Is featured over 60 custom-made performance costumes, such as the designs for Bowie’s albums Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, according to the Brooklyn Museum. There were also several sketches and oil paintings by Bowie, and television and film clips from his career.
The exhibition, curated by Victoria Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh, brought over 2 million visitors across 12 cities, NME reported.
Just before the exhibit came to Brooklyn, the New York Times released its own augmented reality museum. Their version featured costumes from David Bowie Is, via the New York Times app. Users could view the costumes from all angles, and zoom in for a closer look.
“The augmented reality adaptation of David Bowie Is enables you to explore the entire exhibition in the intimacy of your own environment, without glass barriers, vitrines or throngs of visitors. View it at your leisure or jump directly to the things you love…This spectacular iteration of the iconic exhibition is yours forever,” Bowie’s official website reads.
